Hochdeutsch in Bavaria

The author analizes the bestsellers of the German writer Rita Falk written in the genre of «provincial detective» (Provinzkrimi). They are narrated in the first person. The plot makes R. Falk play with dialectically colored conversationality. The main character is police officer Franz Eberhofer who returns from Munich to his Bavarian homeland and prefers to use such a rich speech register that casts the readers in a linguistic shock. The main character considers his speech register to be Hochdeutsch but it is a form of spoken language (Umgangssprache), marked by negligence and dialectal coloration. On the other hand, it is not a dialect in its «pure» manifestation. Nevertheless, it allows to distinguish easy dialogue and narration. The article deals with the specification of speech peculiarities of the first person narrative and speech portraits presented in R. Falk's works.